


Need You Now

by danika (persephone20)



Category: Glee
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-08
Updated: 2011-07-29
Packaged: 2017-10-21 03:54:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/220628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/persephone20/pseuds/danika
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story begins from the season one episode 'Funk'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

After it happened, Rachel said very little at all. In fact, the sentence where she described what Jesse and the other members of Vocal Adrenaline had done to her was probably one of the shortest she had ever said. Mercades immediately put an arm around Rachel. Puck immediately felt very defensive of Rachel. It would occur to him later to ask himself 'What the fuck?' but right then, it was just about instinct and response.

He didn't need to look up to Finn to know what expression would be on his face. Years of friendship--didn't matter that they weren't friends right now--told him that Finn's responses and his were very similar most of the time. Unfortunately for him, Finn was usually both more honest about it and faster in his response time. Apart from crime. When it came to delinquency, Puck had shown Finn everything the other boy knew. When the two boys looked at one another, they knew without speaking that it was time to put some of that learning to good use.

They had to pay back the damages. Finn completely freaked out talking about it in Figgins' office, but Puck kept it cool. Of the two of them, he always kept it cool.

Out in the hallway, after Miss Corcoran had left, and Mr Shue had left them with a half-hearted scolding about private property, Puck felt fairly sure that he knew the reason why Rachel's mum hadn't pressed charges. Well, another reason besides her being Rachel's mum.

Of course, Finn was a little slower in getting it. The taller of the two, Finn stood in Puck's way before the two of them could part ways without really acknowledging each other, like they'd been doing for months. Puck could have gotten around him without too much trouble but, on this occasion, he chose not to. He'd ask himself about that too, later. It's not like he hadn't known what was coming.

"I know why I did it," Finn asked, having looked around first to make sure no one was gawking in on their conversation. "But why did you?"

Puck shrugged his shoulders. It probably looked the same as normal, but Puck thought it felt a bit flat. Finn wouldn't notice. "It's an excuse for vandalism, right?"

"Right." Finn narrowed his eyes at Puck, as though he could tell there was something that his former best mate was hiding, but not quite sure what it was. "Vandalism. Nothing to do with Rachel."

"Nothing." That time Puck swore that there was nothing different from the usual way he would have uttered that word, but this time Finn picked up on it.

"You're lying."

"Am not." That came too quickly.

"Aren't you? Alright, so why didn't you slash the tyres on that St. Martin guy last year when he tried it on with Santana?"

"Santana's a big girl," Puck said with a sniff. "She can take care of her own shit."

"And you don't think Rachel can?"

Puck raised his eyebrow. He thought they both knew the answer to that.

Finn turned his head, changed the tack of the conversation. "I'm just saying, hands off. After Quinn... Rachel's had enough bad luck with guys. She doesn't need you too."

"Counting yourself in that number, bro?" The look Puck shot Finn was pure bravado. Finn hadn't forgotten about Puck getting Quinn pregnant. Vandalising a bunch of cars wasn't going to suddenly make everything okay between them. It sucked more than Puck could say right then.

"I'm just saying leave her alone." And just like that, their history was right up in their faces again. Finn shook his head and turned away, leaving Puck standing alone in the corridor.

**

For a while, the interaction with Finn in the school hall took the memory of Rachel's face out of his mind's eye. It wasn't until the end of the school day that he thought about Rachel again. Thought about her, and damn near ran into her.

She was sitting on the steps outside of one of the less used exits to the school. Her back was to him and, for a while, Puck paused to watch her without her knowing.

Usually so straight and proud, Rachel's back was hunched. It was clear that she held something in her hand as, as she reached up to blow her nose, it became clear what that something was. All those tears that she had quietly held in side during the Glee club meet up, and the rest of the day at school, were being expelled privately in her own company, or so she thought.

Puck would have thought she would have been more theatrical about it. Instead, what he was seeing in front of him hurt something inside a little bit.

"Come on, Rachel. This guy's scum. He's not worth this."

She'd turned around by his last sentence, and her eyes were wide with surprise and unshed tears. Her eyes were red rimmed and a bit blood shot from the crying. Although Puck would never have admitted it, he thought she still looked beautiful, despite that.

For a moment, they each stayed where they were, neither one making the first move or seeming to know where to go from here. At least, Puck thought, the surprise of it had stopped her tears for now. Apart from one quick wipe of her eyes, there'd been no evidence of her crying since he'd spoken.

When the suspense between them threatened to become awkward, Puck pushed himself to make the first move. Well, are you a man, or aren't you?

He summoned that Sweet Caroline charisma as he walked down the steps to sit beside her. "Did you hear, we slashed their tyres."

A small smile cracked at that. Nothing huge, but it was something. "Yeah. I heard my mum's not pressing charges. That was... nice of her."

"Yeah... It was."

And just like that, he ran out of things to say. There was a reason why he wasn't that one people chose to talk to when things went bad. Ruthlessly, he pushed thoughts of Quinn aside.

In a moment, it became clear that it didn't matter if he didn't have anything more to say. She did. "I thought he loved me." And then, as she spoke, a second thing became clear. Puck might have been anyone either in the school, or out of it. Rachel wasn't talking to him, she was talking her way out of herself. "I thought that his love for me was stronger, but now it seems clear that his loyalty to his own school choir is stronger than anything he truly felt for me."

If she was trying to find a way out of herself, Puck thought that was something he could actually help with. When she finally stopped to take a breath, he leaned towards her and tilted his lips against hers. Apart from a muffled 'humph' as surprise caused her to exhale some breath, she didn't make another sound.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Between 'Funk' and 'Journey'

In the last weeks leading up to sectionals, Puck noticed himself being the recipient of some of Rachel's more high wattage smiles. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about that, and found himself being the guy who smiled back awkwardly, when Santana wasn't watching anyway.

Or, so he thought.

She came right up in his face when he was at his lockers, not giving him a moment in which to speak first.

"Rachel?" Her hand was up against the lockers level with Puck's head. He gave it a glance, which gave him, well, an extra second to come up with an appropriate response. "Like it wasn't enough with Quinn. Do you have to sleep through every group you're in?" Her eyes flashed, warning him to be careful where he treaded.

"Baby. I sleep with everyone. Period." So it wasn't the most careful treading that had ever occurred, but at least it took the focus off anything happening with him and Rachel. The corner of his lip quirked. "Jealous?"

"Shove it. I'm getting more, and I'm getting it more often." Her look was condescending, letting him know that him and Rachel was not forgotten. "You used to be a stud, Puck, and that made me look good. Don't make me look bad."

With one last look, she was pushing herself away from the lockers, away from him.

**

When he made it to glee rehearsals--late, he had a reputation to keep up even without Santana's prompting--he noticed Finn and Rachel sitting next to each other. Fine. Fine and good, he thought, though he deliberately avoided sitting next to Santana. Of all the women there, it seemed least offensive to sit himself next to Tina. He wasn't sitting with any of the dudes; he had enough of that at football practice.

Standing in front of them, Shue went on about the week's project. Imminent sectionals had gotten everyone's energy buzzing, even if it was only inside of this room. Therefore, it wasn't surprising when Rachel levered herself up away from Finn and addressed the rest of the club.

"As you all know, sectionals are a little over a week away. Even though most of your voices are sounding much better than they were at regionals, we still have a lot of work to do. I was thinking that the project for this week might feel more unified if it was to come from one of the group members so.." She looked at Shue. "..with Mr. Shue's permission..."

Shue waved a hand to her. He had long since become resigned to Rachel's sudden outbursts. They all had. For some reason, today nobody seemed surprised. It stood as evidence that the shadow of Jesse St. James was no longer so heavy on her. That was good.

Didn't stop Puck from tuning out instead of listening to the rest of Rachel's suggestions for the rest of the club. They'd been able to meet privately for Glee projects in the past; there was no reason to think that this time would be any different. Especially with those high wattage smiles she was sending him. For some reason, the idea of Finn claiming all of her affections for himself stuck him in the back of the throat. They hadn't spoken since the time in the hall after Figgins' office.

**

It didn't start out that way, but when Puck caught sight of Finn and Rachel leaving the school hand in hand, he just had to call out to them.

Rachel turned around to face him happily; Finn, not so much.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I don't recall it was your name I called," Puck answered, before delivering the easiest smile he'd granted to Rachel since their kiss a couple of days ago. She returned it just as easily.

"What is it, Noah?"

"I figured we could work on the Glee club project together. What do you think?"

**

It was like that terrible 'Run Joey Run' song all over again except, this time, the boys involved knew they were doing it together. The thought obviously occurred to Rachel too, but they were all nice enough not to mention it. The thought obviously occurred to Rachel too, from the bright spots on both her cheekbones, but the boys were nice enough not to mention it.

Both Puck and Finn were very much on their best behaviour from the time they three left the school grounds together. Rachel babbled on, oblivious to undercurrents, saying how good it was to see that their friendship was getting back on the rails again, saying also that wasn't it great how Glee club brought people together and wasn't it great that they had both joined and stayed on.

About the only thing that Puck and Finn could both agree on was the murmured 'agreements' that came at the end of every one of Rachel's expectant looks towards them.

Once they started working on the glee project, though, things started getting easier. It wasn't like Puck and Finn hadn't been singing together almost every other day since Finn had realised what an idiot he'd been with believing he'd been the one to get Quinn pregnant.

They managed to get through that first afternoon seamlessly. The second time, Finn tried to talk Rachel around to a Glee practice with just the two of them, but Rachel wasn't having any of it.

"We got so much done with the three of us last time. Why would we change it when we're going so well?"

The third time, Puck was the first one to get to her after school. With only a couple of days still remaining before sectionals, he'd expected to see Rachel more focused than ever. Neither one of them had talked about the kiss they'd shared since it had happened, certainly not in front of Finn. It had occurred to Puck that the same thing could have happened between Rachel and Finn and he wouldn't know, but he tried not to think about that too often. For now, it was just enough to make sure that he was still in the running.

What the prize would be still remained a solid question mark. It wasn't like he actually wanted to date her or anything.

Seeing her on that third time he, Finn and Rachel were meant to get together made Puck think of that kiss. While she didn't look quite so defeated as that last time, there was definitely something of that 'trying to hold it all in against the world' feeling about her.

"...Rachel?"

He queried her gently, almost hoping she wouldn't hear him. He still wasn't good at this, but at least with her he wasn't expected to be good at this. At least, it hadn't been expected last time.

Rachel turned slowly, trying a smile that so didn't work.

"Hi, Noah."

It wasn't a tissue she was holding in her hand this time, though it was the same colour. His eyes were drawn to it, curiosity drawing him to the weakest part of this picture. "What's that?"

She held it as though it was precious and awful at the same time. The tension of her grip had seen the paper she held completely crumpled. Who knew what condition it had arrived to her in, or what was written there.

"It's from Jesse." That last word, his name, was whispered pain. It was also all that was needed to be said; the rest was easily imagined. Puck felt previously forgotten rage rise up in him again, but this time there was no Finn to offload some of it onto. This close to sectionals and St. James was still trying to mess his girl up. Of course he was. Bastard.

"Here," he said, holding his hand out for the crumpled paper. He didn't do it so he could read it. More so she wouldn't.

But Rachel shook her head. "No... I..."

"What's up, guys?"

Finn's voice, suddenly interjecting into the charged moment, held nothing of the knowledge between the two of them. Rachel actually jumped; her hold on the paper became more tight. Puck didn't trust himself to speak.

Though Finn might not have been the brightest boy on the block, it didn't take even him long to figure something was wrong with this picture.

"What's up?" he said again, his tone completely different this time.

Still Puck didn't say anything, looking to Rachel so as to follow her lead. But again, she wasn't coming up with anything. Damned Jesse. This prince was really a piece of work.

"Jesse," Puck eventually ground out, between clenched teeth. Finn looked up to him, surprised at first, then his mouth flattened into a thin line that was probably much the same shape as Puck's. After that, however, Finn's reaction was significantly different than Puck's had been.

"It's okay.."

Rachel looked up to him, tentative hope shining in her eyes. Finn nodded once.

"It is. You don't have to worry. What ever he's said, or..." His eyes drifted down to the paper she still held, but he didn't pause long enough for her to get caught up on it again. ".. wrote. Come on." There he moved towards her, slow and nonthreatening, to put his arm around her shoulders. "Let's get you home."

Damn. But he was good.

Puck had never seen his ex best mate like this. No wonder the girls flocked to him. No wonder Quinn had chosen him over Puck. No wonder Rachel...

He took a deep though silent breath. No one here needed to know what was thinking here. He was still a stud. He had a lot of sleeping around still to do if he was going to catch up with Santana. How much more often had she been meaning, anyway? Puck wondered how long it would take him to get that information from her, in the most intimate way possible. He still had that reputation to protect after all.

Before Rachel and Finn walked off on him, Finn turned his head, looked Puck straight in the eyes. "You coming?"

"Yeah, man." Puck didn't hesitate. Screw reputation.


	3. Chapter 3

Finn wasn't okay with Puck. Not by a long shot. But the long shot wasn't so far as it had been a couple of weeks ago. In fact, the long shot had gotten considerably shorter that afternoon in Rachel's bedroom, when they were meant to be practicing for Glee club.

Puck made her smile. Not using that 'I'm totally gonna sleaze onto you and you're totally gonna love it' way that Finn had seen when Puck had been flirting with Santana and Brittney's, long before he'd cheated with Quinn. It was a softer smile.

Rachel had been talking so fast, and using increasingly larger and larger words, so that Finn had started to lose track of what was being said. He knew she'd started with saying something about Jesse, but that had been a while now, and she was still talking. He just knew that a glazed expression beginning in his eyes was going to make Rachel even worse if she happened to notice it, and she had this eerie way of noticing everything, especially when she was upset.

"Alright, Rachel." Finn stood up from her bed, where he'd been sitting next to an increasingly perplexed Puck. He held his hands up in a peace-making gesture. "You don't have to do this?"

She rounded on him. "Don't have to do what?"

"That." Finn paused a moment to let her know that she didn't have to act in front of him. Or, he granted, in front of Puck. Not while he was here. "You don't have to be like this just cause we're here."

"Yes," she said quietly. "I do." Her gaze widened to include Puck as he walked by them. "Otherwise... otherwise when I see Jesse at sectionals... I don't know what I'm going to do."

"Yes you do." Puck totally surprised Finn by being the one to speak up first, and that surprise showed transparently on Finn's features. "You're gonna hold your head up high. You're gonna show that badass that he's nothing compared to you."

It was that smile, just then. Finn looked to Rachel, then to Puck, then back to Rachel again. Anyone who could make Rachel smile like that... That was okay, in Finn's books.

**

Puck's gaze was guarded when Finn walked up to him in the hall. The rest of the football team gave them space, as had become a team habit over the past few months. Finn thought he knew what Puck was expecting. Another warning to stay away from Rachel, or maybe just a seemingly careless shove against the lockers. "Dude! Impulse control," he'd said once, but then Finn's impulses had been running away with him over the last couple of months.

Hell, maybe this was about to be just another example of it.

"Hey.." Puck started, when Finn had been standing there, staring down at him for more than a couple of seconds.

"Hey. Can we talk?"

Puck raised an eyebrow. He was right, Finn realised with a quick duck of his head. There was absolutely no way to come out not sounding girly after saying that sentence.

For once, Puck didn't give him shit for it. "Yeah."

The two boys walked out to the bleachers beside the football field. By then, murmurs of the explosion that was likely imminent had undoubtedly flooded the ranks of the school, but they were still given their space. Puck sat on the bleacher above Finn and their eyes were about level.

"What's up, man?" He tried to do nonchalant, but he tried too hard. Finn picked it but made nothing of it.

"It's about Rachel."

Puck immediately sat back from him. "I know what you're going to say. And look, it's got nothing to do with you, alright? Get off my back already-"

"I'm gonna tell her I love her."

There was a silence that followed, through which the cry of a goal kicked could be overheard. Always in lunchtime practice; never in game time. What was up with that? Puck looked like he didn't believe that shit; like he was having trouble pulling in a full breath.

"What?"

"You heard."

Finn watched him, taking more in from Puck's facial expression than Puck was aware of, something he'd been doing since their early teens, but had known better than to ever talk about. He saw the moment when Puck's face closed off, and saw the emotions that crossed through his eyes before that. It gave Finn some of the answers he needed.

Puck shrugged and looked away. For him, his mask was just in place as ever. "So what? Why do I care?"

"Maybe you don't. Maybe you've just been trying to get into her pants since Jesse-"

The look Puck shot him then was unguarded. Finn's mouth twisted at the edge.

"Maybe not. But you've been hanging around her a lot."

Puck looked away, scratched the back of his head where his mohawk used to be, shifted his pants as though he was considering leaving. "You got a point?"

"Yeah. Just that you're hot for her." This time, when Puck narrowed his eyes, Finn held his gaze. "You want her. Why else have you tried to go out with her more than once," he said then, in immediate answer to the shock on Puck's face, "She told me after the 'Run Joey Run' thing."

"Fucking- Whatever. Who trusts what a girl says anyway?" Puck replied, but it lacked his usual credibility.

For a moment, both boys were silent. Finn took some deep breaths, something Rachel had taught him to help him strengthen his singing. She'd taught him many things. And now, here he was sitting with Puck, talking about things in a way that might have made things different with Quinn if he'd thought about it then.

"She looks at you too, you know." Those words were soft. It was not an easy admission to make. Puck was slow to look up at him this time. They were both making concerted efforts to keep calm now. Finn wondered if Rachel had taught Puck that thing about breathing as well. Suddenly, he looked down at his shoes.

Puck cleared his throat. "I'm not gonna do it to you, man. Not again." Though his jaw worked and his gaze insisted there was something equally interested about his own shoes, the nodding of his head seemed to say this was the right decision.

"No.." Finn started softly, not sure of what he wanted to say. "I know. But you're good to her.. And maybe.. if I knew about it.. it wouldn't be so bad." There was a furrow between Finn's brows, almost as if he was asking a question.

It seemed out of sheer surprise that Puck burst out with a laugh. "You're saying I should have her too? Like a threesome?"

Finn opened his mouth, then shut it. Then buried his head in his hand. "I dunno, man." His voice was muffled, but decipherable. "No. Just.. not cheating this time."

The silence that followed went on so long that Finn thought Puck wasn't going to say anything, and that he'd just lost whatever positive regard Puck still held for him. He called himself a fucking idiot in his head a couple of times. There was that lack of impulse control again. Better for both of them if he'd actually punched Puck in the gut and been done with it.

But Puck was nodding his head again, finally, slower this time. "Okay," he said. "Not cheating this time."

**

So there they were. Sectionals. Gold ties instead of red this time, and just as much drama as the last time.

Puck had clapped him once on the arm before they'd gone their separate ways to the stage.

Go for it, his eyes had seemed to encourage. That or, Don't stuff it up.

Slow breathing, deep breaths, Finn thought to himself, standing in front of the curtain. Don't think about Ms. Sylvester. Don't think about the competition. Don't think about any of that. Think about Rachel.

Think about Rachel.

He met her eyes, standing across from him in front of the other curtain. She was smiling at him; her eyes shining with stars like the one she would be one day. She was amazing, and he had always known it. He looked at her and none of the rest mattered.

 _I love you,_ he said, in his head and then out loud, but it was right.

Staring at each other in a kind of awe and amazement, they almost forgot their moment to walk through the curtains. But it was right.


	4. Chapter 4

Later, the day would be about Quinn having her baby, or about how they hadn't even placed, or maybe about the way Jesse had looked when he'd sung; almost as if he was singing to her, but surely he couldn't have seen her standing there in the back...

She'd only barely left Finn's side after he'd told her he loved her. In the confusion straight after Quinn's water had broken, Rachel had found a moment to escape to the back row of the audience. She called it closure, as she watched Jesse saunter all over the stage, alternately singing to, and being surrounded by, the many female members of Vocal Adrenaline. This was where he belonged, she reminded herself. His sojourn with her had only been a summer holiday away, and just as easily forgotten. There was nothing there for her anymore.

Through so much of that day, every thought in her head was filtered through a memory of Finn. No more calendars, no more scared little boy trying to find himself. They'd both grown in this time apart, and really had no inclination towards anyone else. That was all in the past, and they both deserved this happiness more than she'd ever thought possible.

She wasn't going to let her crazy get into the way this time.

He let go of her hand in order to go to the toilet sometime after the birth--"I drink too much water when I'm nervous," he'd said--and Rachel had stared off after him as he'd walked down the corridor with something of an extra bounce to his already bouncy step.

She'd jumped when Puck had come up beside her.

"Oh, Noah! I would have thought you would have stayed by Quinn's side at this time?" Try as she might, it wasn't one hundred percent possible to stop the flutter in her heart when Puck had touched her shoulder to tell her he was there. It should have been. Quinn and Puck had just had a baby, even if they weren't keeping it. And Finn loved her. She tried to keep her expression schooled into one of passive civility. And knew that the flush of her cheeks gave her away.

"She's sleeping. But I could use a Coke right now." He raised an eyebrow, which was his way of asking her if she wanted to come with him.

Rachel glanced down the corridor Finn had just disappeared into. She knew the vending machine wasn't far off, and there was no sign of Finn coming back yet. "Of course," she said, with a curt nod, falling into step with him.

With Finn, the quietness between them would have been comfortable. Rachel would have reached out for his hand or Finn would have smiled down at her, and they would have stopped, and kissed, before continuing on their way to the drinks vending machine. With Puck, the quietness between them was of a different sort. Rachel fiddled with a ring on her finger to try to focus her thoughts.

"So.. uh.. Quinn has had the baby?" It wasn't really a question, more like it accidentally got phrased that way. It wasn't like Rachel didn't know it had happened. She had been there, the whole Glee club had been there.

Still, Puck's lips quirked at the corners and he said a very indulgent, "Yeah."

Rachel smiled too. He'd grown softer over the last several months. Rachel looked at the face of the boy who had once thrown slushies at he on a regular basis. She would have liked to claim some of the responsibility for that, but she knew where it really came from. Baby Beth had come to change both of them, Quinn and Puck. It didn't matter that they were giving her up, neither one of them resembled anymore the people they had been nine months ago.

They reached the vending machine and Puck put the money in for a Coke for him. There was also a grape variety of soda that he bought and handed to Rachel without asking.

"...Thank you," she said, staring at it a little before remembering to open it.

He opened his own can of Coke with a flick of his fingers and took a swig, before saying, "You know, I've really enjoyed spending time with you this year."

He was using the Coke can to avoid looking at her as he said it. Rachel smiled before she caught herself. Finn had said that he loved her and, although they hadn't discussed it yet, she was pretty sure that they were together again. If Finn was to see her smiling like that to Puck, and after everything that had happened with Quinn..

"Thank you... Puck. I've enjoyed singing with you this year as well."

Puck nodded, again to his Coke can, before seemingly changing the subject. "So, Finn spoke to you?"

That coaxed a surprised look out of Rachel. "You knew?"

Puck cocked a grin that was purely the old Puck. "Finn's my boy," he answered.

Rachel felt like she was treading suddenly shaky ground. Instead of making any personal response, Rachel chose the easier option. "I'm very glad that things between you and Finn seem to be much better again-"

"You've said that already," Puck said with a knowing smile.

"Oh."

"He wanted to give me a heads up, after you and me kissed."

"How does he-?"

"So he doesn't know about that? I wondered." The Coke had to be getting low now, with all the attention Puck had been giving it. Rachel's grape soda was basically untouched. She hurriedly took a mouthful to give herself space to think. This conversation wasn't going the way she'd thought it would.

"Puck, I..." Rachel swallowed. "I was very vulnerable that day. I'd just had eggs thrown at me, by a very talented man who had professed to love me and whom I believed I loved in return and-"

"Save it." Puck offered a small smile to ease the sharpness of his reply. "I was there. I know this part already." Taking the last swig of the Coke, Puck crumpled it in his hand, before tossing it in a bin as they passed it.

Rachel tried not to become distracted by the way his tendons tightened around the aluminium. "All I'm saying is... It was a moment that cannot happen again. You've just had a baby with Quinn, and Finn and I-"

They'd wandered back near where the rest of the Glee club was congregated. Near the corridor Finn had walked down. With perfect timing, Finn returned to join in on their conversation.

"So," Finn said, appearing beside them. "What did I miss?"

Rachel's eyes widened, as she tried to silently communicate something with Puck. But Puck wasn't looking at Rachel, he was looking at Finn, and lifting his hand to do one of those boys club kind of handshakes that Rachel had never quite gotten the hang of. Watching them, it really did seem believable that Finn was Puck's boy again. Rachel shifted uncomfortably. She had no wish to be Quinn in this little triangle.

"Well I'm sure you boys have a lot to talk about. I might go and let you both..."

"Rachel." Finn took her hand, not roughly, but with some insistence. There was that lost look in his eye that made him slightly resemble a sad puppy. Rachel didn't have the heart to walk away from him when he looked at her like that.

"We were just talking about..." Puck looked from Finn to Rachel. Something in his face shifted then, but Rachel didn't know him nearly well enough to be able to pick it. "The past, and how it's led us to here."

"Yes," said Rachel, rather too assertively. "And also, how the past is _in_ the past."

Mercedes came out abruptly from a conversation with Quinn's mother. Outside, the sun was moving on towards setting, and visiting hours were steadily heading towards a close. Walking away from Quinn's mother, Mercedes addressed the rest of the glee club. "Alright guys, no more visitors for the day so you should all go home. Except you, Puck. You can go in, if you want to."

Puck looked back to Rachel and Finn. His eyes rested on Rachel. "Think about it."

Rachel didn't know what to say.

**

As Finn walked Rachel home, Rachel reflected glumly that the quietness between them had little of the comfortable feeling that she'd earlier ascribed to it. She had thought that it would be different this time, that they both had grown, that neither one of them would be tempted by other people. She'd never thought it would be her that was tempted by someone who wasn't Finn.

"So, what do you think about it?"

Rachel blinked. It was like Finn was reading her mind. He wasn't meant to do that. She was the one who usually knew everything that was going on between them. She wasn't used to following someone else's lead.

But Finn was looking at her patiently, smiling at her gently, and she found that she wasn't able to evade him. She didn't want to anyway; surely she didn't have anything to hide!

"I kissed Puck, but it was only the once, and it was before I knew... before you said that... and before I felt..!" She blinked up into his eyes, terrified suddenly that he would take it back, that it would suddenly have all been one big mistake. She didn't want it to be a big mistake. Her mouth started opening around words that would remind him of what they'd felt for each other both before they'd walked onto the stage and during their number.

But instead of needing to be reminded, Finn looked gentler than ever. "It's okay, Rachel. I knew."

"You..." How had he? But she barely had! "Knew?"

Finn just nodded. Rachel's heart pounded horribly in her chest and yet, this quietness was a more comfortable sort than the one they'd walked in just previous. For once, Rachel chose silence as the better part of valor.

They walked the rest of the way to her dads' house in silence. Along the way, Rachel slowly took hold of Finn's hand and Finn smiled down at her. The sun finally set, leaving a wash of steadily paling pink across the sky. Finn gave her his jacket when she started to grow cold.

As they reached the front of her dads' house, Finn stopped to kiss her and Rachel rose on tiptoe to meet him. They stood at her front gate for several moments, just breathing in the same air and holding onto each other, eyes closed.

"Rachel," Finn said. Rachel opened her eyes but his were still closed, like he could only say these things if his eyes stayed closed. "I don't want to lose you. I've been an idiot around you. And I reckon if you feel something for Puck now..." Finn shrugged. He opened his eyes, seeking hers and immediately kissing her on the nose to reassure her searching eyes.

"Finn, I-"

"He's right. You should think about it. And I love you. No ifs. No it's gonna change. I. Love. You."

He held her gaze for a long several moments, staying every possible objection until she stopped trying to make them, at which point he smiled and kissed her again. Rachel clung to him as he started to straighten up.

His boyish smile was back. Rachel loved his boyish smile. "I'll see you on Monday," he called back to her, as she watched him from the gate.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This happens after the end of 1X22. Rachel finds out Finn slept with Santana. Puck helps her through it.

It was bright and early on Monday morning that Rachel happened upon the glee club auditorium. At that time, she would have expected to be the only one there. As much as the others might secretly love glee club, she was pretty sure that she was the only person who enjoyed being there to practice at 8am. Besides, this weekend had left her with a whole new mode of expression she wanted to explore through song. Finn had called her for two long and drawn out phone conversations, and several really sweet texts that she had since saved to her sim card so that she would always have them. Puck had also been surprisingly attentive, texting her after they'd left the hospital to make sure Rachel had gotten home alright and then continuing an even more surprising PG rated text message conversation from there. Rachel had no idea what was going on there right now, but it felt good and her interactions with both boys were pushing her to sing even beyond what she'd previously expected as her best. She wasn't about to change a thing.

One thing she might have changed that Monday morning was the time she'd arrived at the auditorium. She wasn't the first one there. Blonde hair and long lashes turned to regard her when she walked in. Rachel's step hesitated for a moment, then continued. They hadn't exactly been the closest friends in the glee club, but Rachel had no reason to believe Quinn actually hated her. She smiled nervously, before making her way towards the piano. It was even early enough for the glee pianist to be absent.

At the piano, Rachel went over in her mind which song she wished to put to music first. Still, there was an awkward couple of moments when Rachel wasn't sure if Quinn was looking at her or ignoring her and refused to look and see.

When she saw Quinn's blonde hair coming closer to her out of the corner of her eye, Rachel's fingers suddenly became kind of clumsy on the piano keys.

Quinn politely waited until Rachel was done playing before she spoke up. "I'm having... uh, a little difficulty getting this bridge right..."

Rachel looked up and met Quinn's eyes. There was something in them that hadn't been there before Quinn had given birth but, as far as Rachel knew, she was just now trying to put all that behind her, so Rachel didn't bring anything up. Bridges, on the other hand... "I can do bridges," she informed Quinn, jumping up from the piano.

She ignored the quiet, "I'm sure you can," murmured behind her.

When Rachel turned back to look at her again, Quinn was the very image of respect. Rachel nodded once. "Okay, let me here how it goes?"

The song was a slow one, which Quinn gave a lot of care, yet Rachel could immediately see exactly the problem that Quinn was having. She put her hand up to let Quinn know that she could stop singing when she was ready.

"Here, you're breathing like this," Rachel lifted a hand to her chest, just above her breasts, breathing shallowly in and out, "From here, when what you need to be doing is..."

Rachel walked towards Quinn. Automatically, Quinn took a step back, and Rachel stopped moving towards her. She put her hands on her hips.

"I can't help you if you don't let me," she said, in what for her passed as a stern voice.

Quinn lifted her chin, but she did not move away again. Rachel came to stand beside Quinn, resting her hand lightly on Quinn's stomach.

"Your breathing needs to come from down here, from your diaphram. That's where all the power comes from." Quinn's tendency towards her head voice had always made her a weaker singer than she ought to be, but Rachel was convinced that with the right training, and a couple of Rachel-pointers, Quinn could come a long way pretty quickly.

Quinn's stomach was smooth and flat, beneath Rachel's hand, through the light fabric of the shirt she was wearing. Rachel became a little bit conscious of herself standing right inside of somebody else's personal space. Again. She didn't think of herself as a shallow person, it just seemed that this was the first time Rachel had been in physical contact with Quinn while she hadn't been pregnant. Not surprising, really, considering what the state of their relationship had been before. And now that Quinn's stomach was no longer host to a pregnancy...

Rachel dropped her hand abruptly. Maybe too abruptly, or not abruptly enough, because Quinn was looking over her shoulder at her in a way that Rachel could only interpret as confrontational.

"I think it's time that you and I had a little chat."

As that sounded far too Captain-of-the-Cheerios for comfort, Rachel didn't feel comfortable.

However, she didn't feel rude either, so when Quinn directed her to the seats that were stacked to the side of the glee club auditorium, Rachel went without much complaint.

"A chat..." Rachel started, more than a little nervously. "I thought that's what we were doing?"

Quinn pinned her with a solid stare, until Rachel felt like squirming. But Quinn's voice was perfectly reasonable when she spoke.

"I told Puck that I wasn't ready for a relationship, basically the whole time I was pregnant with Beth. When he asked me in the hospital, I was tired, I was sore, and mainly I just wanted to crawl into a bed that felt like home." Quinn paused. Her long eyelashes shadowed over her eyes. "And then Puck chose you. After Finn chose you."

"That's not, I mean, that's not exactly how it happened."

Quinn didn't ignore Rachel's words, so much as remain focused on her own point. It was an admirable trait. "What I want to know is, you've done some pretty stupid things. You were arguably the least popular girl in the school. And then... How did you get them to look at you?"

Rachel's eyebrows moved up into her hair. "Finn and Puck?"

"Boys, in general. It's like, everyone knows I had a kid, and now I'm a social outcast. Nobody wants to go out with the ex-cheerleader who managed to go and get herself knocked up."

For once, Rachel didn't know what to say. She tried a couple of times, but abandoned each half-baked platitude before it made its way out of her mouth.

Eventually, Quinn heaved a frustrated sigh and threw herself onto the one of the stackable chairs. "I'm jealous of you. I'm actually jealous of you."

She didn't look at Rachel as she said it and, from her tone, Rachel was sure that it wasn't a compliment. She remained standing while Quinn sat, feeling ever more awkward at the turn this conversation had taken. Finally, Quinn looked up to meet her eyes again.

"Everything seems so easy for you. I mean, after Jesse, and Santana, I would have thought there would have been some issues for you to work through."

Rachel looked at Quinn blankly, then less blankly as she recognised the similarity between Jesse and Santana.

"Finn and... Santana?" If she'd actually been a caricature, her jaw would have fallen to the auditorium flood. As it was, her mouth went completely slack in the interim to the next response.

Quinn looked similarly shocked. "Oh god, he didn't... You didn't know?"

But Rachel didn't hear that. Didn't hear anything apart from Finn's saying he loved her. But what had really changed? She had thought he might love her before, he had kissed her before telling her that Quinn was pregnant. He had taken her on a date just to get her to rejoin the glee club. And this time?

Belatedly, Rachel's thoughts came around to remembering Quinn was still in the auditorium with her. "I'm sorry," she said. "I have to go." Ever the professional, she even managed a distracted, "Good luck with your... bridge," on her way out.

**

The rest of the day was a blur that included her first time missing glee club, like, ever. She didn't want to face Finn, didn't want to face Santana, didn't want to see the two of them sniggering behind their hands that she had been so gullible. She could imagine that all too clearly on the back of her eye lids. Of course. Finn was still part of the football team, Santana still a cheerleader. He'd just moved from one to another; it made perfect sense. Like with Jesse, she'd been nothing but a joke to him.

When she got home and one of her dads told her Finn had left her a phone message, she immediately burst into tears, before running upstairs into her bedroom and slamming the door. Her fathers had heard that slam before, and knew it meant not to follow.

But even Rachel could only cry for so long, and then the silence in her room became loneliness. When the phone rang, she would have talked to Finn if it had been him on the other end of the line. Instead, it was Artie.

"We missed you at Glee rehearsal today."

It wasn't a question, wasn't a judgement. He was just checking up on her and his told held no more intention than that.

"Oh Artie..." Rachel bit her lip to keep herself from starting to cry all over again. Why couldn't Finn be more like Artie? She knew, in that moment, that Tina was even more lucky than Quinn had thought Rachel was.

"Rachel?" His voice came back after a few moments of odd noises coming from Rachel's end of the line. "Are you okay?"

"I'm... okay. My nose just... I think I'm having a cold. Can't sing right now. Thanks for calling though!" She hung up before he could show any more concern.

Someone knocked on her bedroom door, but it was only one of her dads, leaving her a glass of water outside her door. She opened it after she heard his footfalls disappear down the hall. A smile that was almost free of bittersweet sorrow lifted her lips as she recognised the cup Shelby had given her just for this purpose. Of course, she'd told her dads that she'd met her mother. She hoped they didn't think this running up to her room was her mother's fault.

Her phone rung again. Rachel picked up the glass and took a sip from it before answering the phone. Again, it was not Finn. It was Puck.

After the first sound of her voice, Puck said, "I'm coming over."

"Oh, no, that isn't really necessary.."

Didn't seem to matter if it was necessary or not. His phone hung up even faster than she had hung up on Artie. 20 minutes later, one of her dads were calling up the stairs, "Rachel! You've got a visitor."

Evidently, Puck wasn't one to wait until she came down the stairs to receive him. He walked straight in through the bedroom door that she'd unthinkingly left open when she took her glass of water.

His frown turned his whole face down, and Rachel was worried that she'd somehow done something to piss him off. Would he be on Finn's side, then? But that was silly; nobody from glee club even knew there were any sides yet.

Except Puck seemed to. "What did he do to you?"

Rachel stepped back, her mouth opening and closing a little bit like a fish. "What makes you think he did anything to me?"

"Only one person I know who can make you cry like that, and it certainly isn't me." Puck lowered his head, looking like a bull to her fish. He said again, "What did he do to you."

"Nothing..." A look towards Puck showed he wasn't buying that so Rachel attempted to evade him as much as possible while wording what even she didn't want to hear in the gentlest possible way. "Just something about Santana.. and him.."

"Fucker." Rachel winced at the venom in his voice, then looked up to him as she realised that this epithet was in defense of her. "Girl said she was getting it often. S'pose it makes sense she's had to go over to other schools."

And just as quickly as that, Puck wasn't making any sense to her.

"What do you mean, other schools?"

Puck looked at Rachel. "What? You mean he was actually sleeping with her while he was slumming at McKinley?"

Rachel's lips parted in a small 'O' shape. "You think I mean Jesse." She wished she meant Jesse. But Jesse was gone from her mind now. Finn had replaced him. And, she supposed, looking him up and down, so had Puck. Jesse no longer had the ability to hurt her anymore. Unfortunately, that position had been taken up by a person who was still currently a member of McKinley's glee club.

"Not Jesse..? Then who the-" Puck's eyes bulged. Rachel might have thought it funny if she wasn't currently in the middle of an emotional breakdown. Two boyfriends in as many months. Surely that had to be a record. If so, it wasn't the sort of record Rachel was after. "No!"

Rachel nodded gloomily. The shock of Finn being the one to hurt her seemed to successfully shock Puck clean out of course language. But he recovered before too long.

"Couldn't be. He wouldn't do it. Who told you?"

"Quinn."

"Oh. That's a reliable source," Puck scoffed. When Rachel looked affronted, he continued, "She's the ex-girlfriend of your current boy. You think that's not rankling?"

"I.. don't know." She looked at Puck,

"Why don't you hear it from him. I happen to know he wants to talk to you." Puck waggled his eyebrows. Rachel wasn't sure that she wanted to go chasing after Finn, but she didn't really want to seem like a coward to Puck either.

Slowly--although her whole body probably showed that she didn't want to do this--she picked up her phone and dialed Finn's number.

He picked it up on the second ring.

"Hey.." She looked to Puck as she heard Finn's voice. Somehow, his gaze steadied her. "Yeah, I know. I just got the message. Wasn't feeling well. What do you mean? I don't sound strange!"

In front of her, Puck mouthed, Tell him, rather insistently.

Rachel bit her lip, then let it go and said, "Actually, there is something I wanted to ask you. Someone told me that you had something going with Santana."

She avoided Puck's searching gaze as Finn made hurried explanations. After hearing him out, Rachel only had one thing to say.

"Do you want her more than me?"

Puck slumped as soon as the question spilled from her lips, but she couldn't help it. He'd broken up with her last time because of Santana and Brittnay. Her silence stretched on even after he'd made his immediate argument. He spoke again, then kept speaking, trying to coax her into saying something, to believing him, until he was begging her for both.

Puck looked away as he overheard the vague sounds of that.

"Okay." Rachel nodded her head, and the sounds of Finn's earnest comments stopped. She could almost feel him holding his breath. "Okay, I believe you. I just... you should have told me."

His response was swift and seemed to sooth her. Puck turned to leave without saying anything. Rachel's eyes darted up at his movement.

"I... uh, have to go," she said quickly on the phone. "Yes, I promise. I'll call you back. And I'll see you tomorrow. Before school?"

Even after Rachel hung up the phone and stood, Puck stayed hunched, hands in pockets, with a carefully careless expression on his features.

"See. Told you you should talk to him."

"He said it was months ago. It wasn't during either of the times we were dating." Now that she'd talked it out with Finn, and especially while in front of Puck, she felt a little embarrassed about the whole thing. She'd have to go downstairs and talk to her dads about what had happened a little later. They would be worried.

"Glad it all got sorted out." Again, Puck made ready to go.

"Puck... Noah, I..."

Again, her words stayed him. His gaze went to her lips before resting on her eyes. At least, she thought they went to her lips. They could have gone lower...

"Thank you."

Puck shrugged, trying to make nothing of it. He probably didn't do embarrassed, Rachel thought, but if he had, it probably would have looked something like that.

"No, I really mean it." She bit her lip, again. It was common knowledge that Puck didn't really do the girly chats. He probably wasn't going to hear anything she said. But he'd said to 'think about it', and Finn had said that he was okay with it, and she'd definitely been thinking. He kept being there for her, defending her, without her asking, without asking anything in return. And she thought, maybe, that she wanted to give him something in return.

Closing the small amount of distance between them, Rachel touched her lips against Puck's. It was only the lightest brush. There was still one last part of her that thought she'd somehow read all the signs wrong, and he might suddenly become that boy who threw grape slushies at her face, whether she liked him or not. If she was wrong about this, he'd make hell for her. She'd become that girl who had made a pass at him, and how desperate must she be to think he'd actually go there?

But she wasn't wrong. Her lips had barely brushed his before his arms wrapped around her, guns flexing just under the skin, and he was holding her tightly to him, so that it was no longer possible for there only to be a light brushing of their lips. She was pressed against him, from lips to knees, and she thought that just maybe she was beginning to feel a little something--well, not actually little--that she'd never dreamed she would ever have anything to do with.

Gasping, Rachel broke their kiss and darted away, but not too far. Puck's arms still remained around her and, after a moment, Rachel kind of became okay with that. He searched her face for a moment, as if to make sure, then he relaxed too. With his forehead still resting against hers, he gave a little laugh and offered her one of his most devilish grins.

"You know, I think this is going to be a great summer."


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This happens after the end of 1X22. After Puck helps her, Rachel sees an opportunity to return the favor.

They both rushed to tell him about it, after it happened. Puck figured that Rachel had told him on the phone call she'd promised him. And Puck... well, since he'd known from their conversation that Finn was going to be in early that morning, it had been an easy thing to rock up and catch him.

The look on Finn's face as soon as he saw Puck told him his boy was already aware of what had gone down. They fell into step with each other without making a drama. It was, perhaps, the third time in a couple of weeks, and the gossip mongers weren't expecting the same odds of a fist fight as they had the first time.

"So..." Finn said, then stopped. That was good, Puck thought. Gave him a chance to come out with it without prompting.

"Yeah, Rach and I kissed last night."

The two boys looked at each other, each nodding their heads.

"Rachel told me. She used... more words though."

"Mate, I hear ya." But there was a grin in there with his rolled eyes.

"You guys dating?"

Eyebrow furrow. "Dude. You know I don't date." Finn gave him a look, a look that said maybe he'd made a mistake in trusting that Puck wouldn't hurt Rachel. And though Puck wouldn't have admitted it to her, had barely gotten around to admitting it to himself, he found himself adding, "But maybe. At some point."

Another nod. That was all Finn needed to know. Puck switched topics for both of them. "Last football practice for the year."

Finn smirked. "Yeah. It's gonna be a joke."

**

Puck surprised himself by finding himself walking by Rachel's lockers at lunchtime. What he'd forgotten about was how close Quinn's locker was to Rachel's. The blonde made it to her locker after class first. They'd barely spoken since the hospital. Chick had said she needed more time. Wasn't a lot more Puck needed to know. And he'd already told her about his needs.

What was different this time was the way she ignored him when he tried to catch her eye for a brief hello in passing. He forgot about Rachel's locker for a minute there, following after Quinn until he reached an arm in front of her against the lockers, effectively blocking her from walking any further.

"Uh, hello?"

"Oh, hello." Quinn's expression was perfectly civil. That was the problem. They hadn't been 'perfectly civil' in months, if then. Less than a week after the baby popped out of her stomach and the Ice Queen was making a comeback. No fucking way. This was the first time he'd been feeling good about himself for about as long as that kid had been in her belly. No way he was going back to Lima Loser in her eyes now.

"That's it?"

"I'm sorry. Was there something you wanted to say to me?"

"What is this?"

Quinn gave him a look that told him he was the moron who wasn't understanding something perfectly obvious, and that was bullshit, because she was the one acting like the crazy one here.

"I have no idea what you mean."

Teeth grinding, Puck withdrew his hand from her locker. Better if she'd ignored him. "Whatever. I don't have to deal with this crap anymore."

He turned away, still shaking his head and storming back to Rachel's locker before he could see the stricken look that passed across Quinn's fair features.

Rachel was at her locker by the time Puck returned. Finn was standing with her. Both of them managed to greet him with more than 'perfect civility'.

"Sup." He didn't trust himself to say more than that for a second. Rachel turned a questioning look to him, then looked past him.

"Was that Quinn?" she asked, warily.

"Yeah, the Bitch Queen herself."

"Don't call her that," Finn said quickly, which just caused Puck to stew even further. What had started as an uncharacteristically sweet gesture had turned into too many problems that Puck didn't want to deal with. That would teach him to stick with what he knew next time.

"Finn..." Rachel touched Finn's arm in a comfortable way that didn't do anything good for Puck's mood. The taller boy looked down at his girlfriend, who flashed that mega-watt smile that neither one of the two of them were very good at turning away from. "Would you mind very much if I was to speak to Noah for one moment?"

Finn shot another glance towards Puck, but he agreed. Not without a kiss and a caress on the cheek, though. Puck lifted his chin as the other footballer gave them a bit of room.

"Noah." Rachel's soft voice brought her attention back to her. "I happen to know something that could potentially ease the upset that you are currently feeling. As you know, I spoke to Quinn yesterday morning, and there was more to that conversation than what Finn had been doing while the two of us weren't dating."

"Yeah?" Puck told himself that he was now answering her solely out of a wish to get into her pants. Outside of that, he could totally tune her out. What did he care about Quinn anymore?

"Yes. It has come to my attention that Quinn is jealous of me."

Puck scoffed, but the sound was more out of habit than intent. Nevertheless, the thoughtless gaff left a hurt look on Rachel's face. She didn't attempt to say anything more until Puck tried to cover it up, but he only succeeding in turning her expression more resolute.

"As I was saying: Jealous. She informed me of such herself."

Puck didn't dare allow another such social gaff to further annoy the other girl in his life. He cleared his throat. "Alright. So she's jealous of you. What's that got to do with the way she just treated me in the hall?"

For a moment, Rachel just stared at him. "Noah. She thinks that you and I are dating. At the same time as she knows that Finn and I are dating. Can you not understand how upsetting that might be for her? I mean, I know we are not actually dating," here her eyelids fluttered down a little bit, but she pressed on, "But if she thinks otherwise, do you understand how that might... what did you call it last night?" She looked at him. The word he'd used was not part of her usual vocabulary. "Rankle?"

Puck took a deep breath out. In his pursuit of Rachel, he hadn't actually considered what anyone other than Finn might have thought about it.

"Okay. You might have a point. So what am I supposed to do about it?"

Rachel smiled at him as though the answer was perfectly obvious. "You talk to her." She paused, but when she continued, her smile was devilish with the best of his, and he definitely found that hot. "I happen to know she wants to talk to you."

Putting his hormones on the back-burner for just this second, Puck didn't argue. "But if she acts like that again..."

Rachel lifted her hand, put it on his arm, and Puck's words just stopped. "You'll make her listen," Rachel said softly, and Puck believed her.


End file.
